Description (eng):
This thesis deals with prices and brands in food retailing. Especially price differences for brands between discounters and other retailers and the consumers’ price knowledge concerning these price differences are the focus of this thesis. While discounters are usually characterized by low prices and a high percentage of retail brands, other retailers are known for a broad and deep product selection and a high share of manufacturer’s brands. However, because brands as well as prices display crucial aspects for grocery purchases, the different types of organizations are starting to share a growing amount of similarities. As a result, retails see a growing significance in influencing purchase choice by prices. Whether this approach also applies to manufacturer’s brands and if price differences between discounters and other retailers exist, displays the first part of the research field. In a second part, it is to be examined, how well consumers know about prices at discounters and other retailers and whether they believe, that there is a price difference for manufacturer’s brands between the types of organizations. In a first step, a literature analysis is used, to describe food retailing and the different types of organizations more closely and to discuss the position of prices and brands. This part is followed by a closer look at price knowledge. Besides the literature analysis, price comparisons are being undertaken at the different food retailers, to examine, whether a price difference for manufacturer’s brands exists. An empirical investigation, conducted with a sample of people living in Tyrol, is use to find out more about prices and price knowledge from consumers. By evaluating the results, it can be seen, that the majority of compared brands has a lower price at discounters than at other retailers. Concerning price knowledge, the results show, that the majority of consumers share the opinion, that the manufacturer’s brands are more expensive at other retailers. However, the exact price recall shows very low results, which means, that the knowledge about exact price differences is not very strong. It has to be particularly mentioned, that consumers perceive the price difference for brands between discounters and other food retailers higher, than it actually is.